Have you tried games streaming service OnLive yet? If not, why not? Head over here to see what our initial impressions were of it at the Eurogamer Expo launch. The app itself is quick and easy to install, and entirely free; and it will work on almost any PC or Mac. Best of all, almost every game in the catalogue has a free half hour trial. Still need a good reason to give it a try? Okay – how about a code for one month’s worth of the PlayPack, which gives you unlimited access to over 140 games?

We have three of these codes to give away, but please note that they are UK only. Just think – for a month you could play games such as the original Deus Ex, Bioshock, Borderlands, Alpha Protocol, and much more to your heart’s content – completely free! So: what do you need to do?

Simply send an e mail to competitions[at]criticalgamer[dot]co[dot]uk with the words ‘Give me a PlayPack code!’ in the subject line, and your name and county (note the lack of ‘r’) in the mail itself. That’s it. Good luck, and be quick – it’s the first three entries not caught in our spam snare that win!

Terms and Conditions

• Entrants must be eighteen (18) years of age or older to enter, due to PEGI ratings attached to some games. By submitting an entry, you are declaring yourself to be no younger than eighteen (18) years of age.
• The prizes on offer are three (3) codes, redeemable online, each for one month’s access to the OnLive ‘PlayPack Bundle’. There shall be three (3) winners.
• An OnLive account is necessary for the prize to be redeemed. Creating an OnLive account is free.
• No alternative prize shall be offered. Prizes, provided by Indigo Pearl for the purposes of this promotion, are non – returnable.
• There is no official closing date. The competition shall end when the final code has been given away, and this post shall be updated to reflect when this happens.
• The winners will be announced on this website.
• One entry per person. Employees of Critical Gamer, Indigo Pearl, OnLive, and their families are not eligible to enter.
• Anybody found to have breached any of these terms and conditions shall have their entry/entries disqualified.
• The decision of the Critical Gamer administration in all matters pertaining to this competition is final.

David Jaffe confirmed via Twitter that Twisted Metal will now be released in Europe on March 7, following Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s decision to cut graphic content from copies of the game destined for our shores.

It was confirmed last week that SCEE territories would see a delay due to localisation issues with the game. However, the Eat Sleep Play boss was quick to reassure fans via a post on NeoGaf that cut content will not affect story or gameplay and just tones down the gorier details.

“In the scene we’ve released on the net from the intro – where the girl stabs Tooth in the eye – the SCEE version has this but we cut away right before the scissors make contact with Tooth’s face”, Jaffe explained. “It’s CLEAR what she’s doing and I think we even keep the sound effects in and such – but the last few frames are gone.”

He then went on to cover the nature of the gameplay changes. “Only a few content cuts for the game – for example, I think the guy on the gurney from Meat Wagon is dead so you are exploding a corpse covered with TNT vs. a screaming man trapped to the gurney.”

It still sound joyously messed up and brilliant to us, we just have to wait until March 7 to enjoy it. Those in the US are completely unaffected by the changes and will be able to play the full game next week on February 14.

If you are struggling to wait for the game’s release you can check out the demo available on PSN to get your vehicular carnage fix.

• Format:3DS
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Nintendo
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.nintendo.co.uk

Wii based Galaxy titles have introduced a new level of inventiveness to the Mario formula; so how have Nintendo kept a balance between traditional 2D Mario gameplay, Galaxy style gameplay, and the 3DS’ form factor? Well, they have gone back to their roots for the core DNA. There are no open 3D areas to explore here. Instead think streamlined experiences with the gameplay of traditional 2D games, yet in full 3D with a degree of flexibility to experiment with route and method. Indeed the best comparison is the often overlooked ‘pure platforming’ type levels which were a minor part (but the best sections) of Super Mario Sunshine back on the Gamecube.

This style of gameplay suits the screen size of the 3DS perfectly. With the 3D effect turned up, it’s like looking into a little box of Mario (hence making the Mario land in the title quite apt). The fact that the levels are clearly linear and constrained means it’s like having a little Mario play-set to run around in, there in the palm of your hand. It is rather beautiful in our opinion with bright hues and well rendered characters, platforms and backgrounds.

The gameplay and level variety do not disappoint. As with other franchises, such as Mario Kart, Nintendo seems to know how to add just enough to move the series on, without alienating seasoned veterans. You would have thought that when it comes to platforms we would have seen them all, from all angles; but Nintendo keeps finding new ways of making the old seem new. As with Galaxy, the levels are abstract, with settings such as underwater or firepits, with moving platforms with forward and backward triggers which Mario can control. There is a superb level which is based on old 8 bit, pixelated graphics which uses cannons to propel Mario between different faces and designs made out of these 8 bit blocks. You kinda have to see them to believe them.

Clearly inspired by its 2D bretheren but with added depth....

Some levels are very 2D in design, but rendered in 3D. However they are true 3D and you can move Mario to the foreground or background of the levels, often finding alternative horizontals paths, in a fashion similar to how story levels are constructed in LittleBigPlanet. Mario, though, controls much better than Sackboy and the addition of real 3D allows you to judge the depth much easier. However some levels are clearly influenced by games such as Galaxy, with different areas to progress to, free standing and floating in the air. Whichever level you are on though it is a linear playthrough from one end to another as there are no ‘get the star’ targets here. You start at one end and have to reach the flag at the other, just like with the 2D games we love so dearly.

Throughout the game, Mario will be able to slip on various suits which give the type of superpowers we have become accustomed to over the years such as fireballs, boomerangs – and for 3D Land we see the comeback of the Tanooki suit! The Tanooki suit allows the player to hover in the air for a bit (very useful for all this platforming) and kill enemies with a flick of Mario’s Tanooki tail. Beware, though, as this time the enemies get their own Tanooki suit to use against you! Two suits can be carried at once, and by touching an icon on the bottom screen you can easily switch between them.

The first eight worlds are great and they are super accessible. If you keep failing you’ll get given a super suit that essentially means you can’t be killed. Great for beginners and the experienced alike, to wean them onto the difficulty which kicks in once the main quest is over.

That’s right, the game keeps giving. Once the main quest is complete, another eight worlds appear, with a remix of levels made harder and not coming with any special ‘I can’t be killed’ suits to help you out. Each level comes with three gold coins which need collecting to unlock new levels (and also act as a reason to replay levels for the completists amongst us), whilst the spotpass feature means you end up competing on best times against other 3DS users you might have bumped into via other games such as Mario Kart 7. It’s a great shame Nintendo didn’t go the whole way and offer public leaderboards.

It’s also a shame the game doesn’t offer any multiplayer mode whatsoever. New Super Mario Bros on the DS had a quite compelling coin collecting competition going, and so did the DS remake of Mario 64. However 3D Land has nothing, when an online mode would have added even more replay value.

With the 3D turned up, this looks lovely.

Whilst we feel content to make suggestions regarding what is missing in this review, please don’t confuse that with our actual view on the title. It is excellent. It is better than New Super Mario Brothers on the DS, in that it offers a real difficulty curve for experienced players, and way more replay value. It looks lovely, and the levels delight in their ingenuity whilst the 3D makes a tangible difference to how you experience the game, with some simple puzzle elements being easier to solve with the 3D on rather than off. There is also a nice variety of special suits, as you would expect in a Mario game, which add a degree of strategy and gameplay variation to how you might approach different levels.

Nintendo has shown once again that a proper Mario title is not just a cynical way of printing money, but is a franchise that justifies its greatness time and time again with each release.

Get it now.

8 Realms is a browser based real-time strategy game from Jagex Game Studios, which is free to play. Anyone familiar with The Settlers or Civilisation games will know what to expect, and players are tasked with building their empires from the humble Ancient age through to the high tech Future age. So is it worth spending your time on, when there are already so many other well-established games in the genre?

You begin the game by planting the foundations of your civilisation in a colourful glade with help from the wonderfully named Gary, who is basically your guide on how to play the game. Gary helps you navigate the menus, and makes suggestions on what you should do next. The menu system is clean and easy to use, and is very user friendly, which will help new players feel immediatly at home. The game world is viewed from an isometric viewpoint which works well, and lets you see the whole of your empire without any need to change camera angles etc. The graphics are functional, with a pleasant cartoony look to them. When you build your structures on the squares available, the area is animated with your townsfolk working away on the scene. Each ‘square’ is a self-contained part of the society, and you don’t need to worry about road systems to connect the various amenities together. The main aim of the game consists of constructing and researching to gain culture to help you progress to the next age. To reach the next age you need to reach 100% culture, and then build a Wonder to cement your empire. The 8 Realms of the title signifies the 8 different ages that you progress through. Ancient is obviously the first age, and as you progress you pass through the Classical, Feudal, Renaissance, Imperial, Industrial, Modern and finally Future ages.

Our mate Gary! Your number two.

As is the norm in these games, resource management is key to creating an all-conquering empire. You start the game with three resources: food, wood and stone. To earn these resources you need to build farms, lumber mills and quarries on the relevant squares where these resources are available. Unfortunately these buildings can take a very long time to build in real time, which slows down the gameplay. You can get gems which help speed up the process – but you need real money. These buildings are upgradeable, and you can add extra structures if you need more of a certain resource. The other main resource is Gold, which you gain by taxing your local population. This can be adjusted if you need extra finance, but don’t expect the local population to be too happy, as our own coalition government recently found out! You do have the option to appease the populous by building things to keep them happy. Building a library is an important aspect to your gameplan (take note Clegg and Cameron), as with it you can research new technology (um…), which gives you access to new building structures, classes of people and other bonuses. Research is laid out in a tree-like structure, where you need to research certain things to enable you to branch out into other areas.

Your kingdom is quite compact and bijou.

Once you have sustained your main city, you can then expand out into the wider world, where there are pockets of hostile barbarians who defend much needed resources. Once you have built up your army, through research and resources, you can raid or capture these outposts, and build your own trade outpost. Be warned though barbarians can attack these captured outposts, so you need to ensure that you have adequate defences to repel them. Unfortunately all the battles in 8 Realms are carried out automatically, and you don’t get to see any of the battles that ensue. It’s just a case of waiting to see if your troops triumph or are sent home in disgrace, with a Battle Report that gives you the details of what transpired.

You can expand your realm to the wider world.

8 Realms is a good introduction to the RTS genre for casual players, but we’re not sure more battle weary players will be intoxicated by its charms. The initial bit of land that you get to create your kingdom is small, which limits you somewhat; although its compact nature means it’s easy to keep an eye on what is happening in your glorious empire. The slow building process really hampers play, as some structures can take between one to four hours to build in real time! The gems help speed the building process up, but they are costly at £5 for 85 gems, which we can’t imagine many people forking out for. This means you spend a lot of time letting the game play itself, rather than you playing the game. However the basis is there for a decent game, which could well capture the casual crowd.

• Format: 3DS
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Capcom
• Developer: Capcom
• Players: 1-2
• Site: http://www.residentevil.com/revelations/

Resident Evil: Revelations can probably be considered one of the more mature games to be released on the 3DS to date (though it only manages a 16 rating from PEGI) and from the outset was a refreshing change from Mario, Mario, some remake, and that other Mario game.

Jumping into the newest Resident Evil title is a little daunting at first because it feels like being forced to start at episode ten of a twenty episode season. Despite having no direct ties to the plot of previous titles with the exception of Chris, Jill and the BSAA group they work for, the player is fed a lot of information about significant previously unknown events of a global scale.

We’re told that in 2004 a city was created out at sea which ran on 100% solar power. This city, called Terragrigia, was for some reason the prime target of a terrorist group named Veltro which chose to attack it using bio organic weapons to zombify the population of the city with a new virus variant called T-Abyss. Pulling another Raccoon City, the government decided that the only way to contain the virus was to blow up the city. Skip ahead one year and Chris has gone missing chasing rumours that Veltro has resurfaced; so Jill and new partner Parker go searching for him on orders of the BSAA boss – who looks so much like the late Peter Falk that it’s distracting.

The story is ridiculous even if you do manage to swallow everything that’s happened before the events which play out in the game, but that is not to say it’s bad. Most people probably go into a Resident Evil game expecting nothing more than a cheesy action horror plot with monsters and zombies thrown in, so as long as that doesn’t change here you’ll be fine. That said you do also have to cope with it jumping around timeline wise a lot; sometimes by a year, sometimes by an hour, sometimes by mere minutes to tell events from another perspective.

Controls are tight and responsive and players of Resident Evil 4 or 5 will feel instantly at home, though using the new dodge ability takes some getting used to. The circle pad attachment is utterly unnecessary for playing the game to the required standard of reaction times and aiming prowess.

Presentation is to a very high standard. We don’t just mean graphically either (though it’s one of the best looking 3DS games we’ve played to date), more that Capcom has tried very hard to make the 3D worth having on. Now, 3D always has and always will be an unnecessary gimmick and a lot of developers are using it just as that – something to tack on to justify being on this handheld. Revelations feels like it’s better with the 3D on, even if it technically isn’t. Each cutscene, each camera angle, each panning shot feels like it was choreographed so that with the 3D slider up full it looks better. It isn’t too ‘deep’ either, so much like The Mercenaries 3D eye strain from prolonged play isn’t really an issue either, yet you still get enough visual depth that it adds an important effect.

Either by design or format limitations, Revelations returns to a more enclosed experience. You spend a vast majority of it on the ship traversing tight corridors never sure what’s around the next corner. The 3D effect helps amplify this feeling of heightened caution as you awkwardly edge around the corner (or cheat using the finger dexterity requiring first person strafe returning from The Mercenaries 3D). That’s not to say there aren’t large rooms or other areas because there are, and they help break up the experience. The first time you see the hall of the promenade deck you’ll be impressed by both the visuals and the scale.

As with previous games the gameplay boils down to finding weapons, upgrading weapons, shooting enemies and solving relatively simple puzzles. There is both forced and optional backtracking across twelve episodes which will take you around nine hours to get through, which is a very healthy length.

If we were to nitpick at things it would be that the game goes on for about another hour after it feels like it’s reached a satisfying conclusion, bosses take about five minutes longer to kill than they should, the ‘previously on Resident Evil: Revelations’ sections at the beginning of each episode are truly painful, and if you watch the after credits cutscene all it does is confound you and bring up all sorts of nasty plot holes.

So, what else is there besides a nine hour or so campaign mode that you’ll play through once or twice? Thankfully the game has that covered in the form of Raid Mode. This is where the game’s excellent local or internet co-op comes into action (though it can also be played alone if need be).

Raid Mode lets you pick a character from the main story and then you play through enclosed levels with different enemy and item layouts, levelling up as you go and finding better gear too. You can run into special versions of enemies which are super quick, super tough, or a mixture of the two and players can even fight bosses together. There are also achievement-like missions which can be traded with people you co-op with or via StreetPass.

It’s a great shame the co-op couldn’t also apply to the main campaign, but Raid Mode is a clever addition to an already full feeling game which will create longevity it wouldn’t have otherwise had. For those still in two minds about trying Revelations a demo is available on the eStore; but few people would be disappointed after playing this game.

Shhhh. Be wery quiet. I’m hunting tewwowists.

Bang! Bangbangbangbangbang!

Sshhh. Be wery quiet. I’m hunting tewwowists.

Bangbangbang!

[closed captions for the hard of hearing]

Paul McCartney with Wings (for extra comfort)

Yes, we’re afraid it’s true; Sir Paul “can’t name any album his music appears on released within the last thirty five years” McCartney is writing music for a videogame. What game? We don’t know! Developer? Ditto. Publisher? Your guess is as good as ours (though we’d say EA). So what do we know about the game? Well, er, Sir Paul “can’t name any album his music appears on released within the last thirty five years” McCartney is writing the music…

This…er… brilliant piece of news was first reported over at the Daily Express. As we’re not in the habit of reading right-wing newspapers obsessed with Princess Diana however, this came to our attention via MCV. The ex-Beatle is quoted as saying: “It’s a fascinating market. A new computer game sells so much better than a new CD these days.” Nice to see he’s taking an interest for all the right reasons!

69 year old McCartney, seemingly having forgotten the fact that he helped launch The Beatles: Rock Band a few years ago, went on: “Young people will hear my music for the first time in a game”. Whatever the game turns out to be, it may be worth praying to the deity of your choice that it isn’t a title where sound and music is integral to the experience such as Rez, Everyday Shooter or Child of Eden. If you can’t switch music off in the options, there’s always the trusty Mute button.

SSX joins the slew of games set to ship with an online pass code included with new copies of the game. The good news is that it is not required to enjoy the game’s multiplayer mode.

An EA spokesperson told Game Informer that the code will not affect how you play the game’s two multiplayer modes, Explore and Global Events. However, in-game credits earned from the Global Events mode will be withheld from players without an online pass.

The official statement reads: “In SSX, players without an Online Pass are able to compete and play in both of SSX’s online game modes, Explore and Global Events with no restrictions. In Global Events, the top finishers from each event are awarded with in-game credits. These in-game credits earned during play will not be awarded to the player if they do not have an Online Pass; these credits will be stored so that at any time, if a player redeems an Online Pass code, all the credits that they had previously earned in Global Events will be immediately awarded to them.”

Credits in SSX are used to unlock extra equipment for characters and to gain entry to some events. EA’s statement goes on to reassure that those without an online pass will not be barred from any content in the game.

“Economy balance makes it possible to unlock all available content and allows you to participate in all event drops across both Explore and Global Events, with credits earned solely in Explore.”

SSX will be released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in Europe on March 2, following the US release on February 28.

Nordic Games is bringing Remedy’s psychological action thriller Alan Wake to PC next month. The game will be getting a boxed retail release and includes DLCs The Signal and The Writer.

“It goes without saying that we are very happy and proud to work together with some of the greatest talents and artists of the games industry”, commented Lars Wingefors, CEO of Nordic Games GmbH. “We are really looking forward to the PC version of Alan Wake, especially as we are talking about a fantastic PC adaptation thereof, rather than a mere porting of the code. We will talk about this in more detail in the upcoming weeks” he added.

“We’re very excited that we have the opportunity to bring the PC version of Alan Wake to retail and the fans out there.” said Matias Myllyrinne, CEO of Remedy Entertainment. “Working closely with Nordic Games we can deliver an amazing experience to PC gamers.”

Alan Wake was released to universally positive reviews in the press and has a Metacritic score of 83 for those who like cold, hard numbers. We thought it deserved close to top marks in our review back in May 2010.

With the promise of this being a PC adaptation rather than a simple port of the original code, this could be one to watch if you missed it the first time on Xbox 360. Look for it in shops and on e-shelves this February.

• Format: XBLA
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: UTV Ignition
• Developer: Denki
• Players: 1 (offline), 2-4 (online)
• Site: http://www.denki.co.uk/games/quarrel/

This game sees pirates fighting ninjas, and cavemen fighting robots. Oh, still here? Most people rushed off to buy the game before the end of the first sentence. Well for the rest of you, here’s a review of the actual game – a turn-based strategy word ‘em up. Where innocent people are killed.

In effect, it’s an electronic board game for 2-4 players. Each themed ‘board’ is split up into several parts, with each player allocated an equal number of sections at the beginning of the match. Each section houses a number of little people (or robots. Or Scotsmen), and each of these little people represents a space for a letter (up to a maximum of eight). If you ‘quarrel’ with another player whilst using a piece of land containing four little people, you can make a word up to a maximum of four letters. With us so far?

Two players at a time ‘quarrel’, both using the same eight letters. Each set of letters is always an anagram. Each letter carries a number, as in Scrabble; the highest scoring word, which isn’t necessarily the longest, wins. If both players produce a word of equal value, victory is awarded to whoever submitted their word first. The little chaps on the winning team throw letters at the losing team until they burn and die; and the losers have always led pure, innocent, blameless lives. We know this because, without fail, we see their souls ascending to heaven.

Let’s back up a bit. While it’s clear you can still win if you pit three mini murderers against five, facing an opponent with seven when you have just two doesn’t bode well for victory. This is where tic tacs come in. No, sorry, tactics. During your turn, you can select one of your pieces of land to attack an opponent’s section and initiate a quarrel; or you can bolster your defences by transferring little people from one of your adjoining sections to the other. Two pieces of land with four little people may well be a better choice than one with seven and the other with just one.

Scotsmen vs robots vs cavemen! Sadly, you don't get to pick your characters (we'd all go for ninjas, right?).

If you fight an opponent using a larger team than yours and win, you take ‘prisoners’ equal to the number of extra letter spaces your foe had. More generally speaking, lose while attacking and you lose all but one of your current team; lose while defending, you lose everybody on that section and the land itself. ‘Reinforcements’ are scattered for you at the end of your turn (which lasts until you end it or until you’ve done all you can do), and you can call in one extra wordperson at the start of one quarrel if you’ve accrued enough points (though you can hoard them). Finally, bonus points are awarded for taking the same little team through multiple enemy territories (and winning).

Whew. Got all that?

So: it’s a word game that makes you think in more ways than one and, for a little extra pressure, you’re working against the clock while composing a word when playing online. It’s much simpler and easier to learn than we’ve probably made it appear – and it’s also very, very addictive. Offline game modes aren’t huge but, countering that, AI opponents get agonisingly clever very quickly. Even when you’ve finally conquered the smarmy avatars of your computerised nemeses, there’s always the option of a Quick Match to just jump in and play to scratch that violent word game itch.

Of course, the real pleasure to be had in any word game comes from human opponents; and this is where Quarrel features its most baffling, daftest omissions. There is, for example, no offline multiplayer. Go back and read that as many times as you like, we’re afraid the ‘no’ really is supposed to be there. Okay, so splitscreen Quarrel would be open to cheating but come on; not even some kind of mode incorporating taking turns?

There currently aren’t many people playing online, and virtually all those who are only seem to want to play two player matches; neither of which is the game’s fault. However, why oh why is it only unranked matches (which make it easy to find members of a Party) that offer a lobby list? There isn’t even a rematch option for ranked matches (either that, or every opponent we played was so terrified of our brainpower that they quit the second the match ended). Brownie points are won, however, for anticipating the infamous Rage Quit. When this happened to us in a ranked match, we were automatically handed the victory; during an unranked match, an AI opponent jumped in.

The anagram here is clearly, er, foseflus.

As for the words themselves, well… almost anything goes. Swearing is forbidden (one we tried was rejected as “undesirable!”), though plurals and slang (and letters of the Greek alphabet, and even a type of Armenian folk music – yes, really) are acceptable. The slang seems to be American-centric however, with “ho” and “crappers” being two delightful examples we came across. The potato/potato situation is unclear as, though we never saw any British English used, we saw American English wielded successfully a few times. Also Denki, please note; it’s commendable that you don’t allow hyphenated or apostrophised words but bearing that in mind, costar is not a word!!! That cost us a game. Bitter, us?

The 400MP price is surprisingly low, until you discover that the game started out on iTunes last year – where there’s a free version, and even the ‘Deluxe’ release is only £1.99. Nonetheless, this still represents great value for money, as it does have multiplayer options – unlike the iTunes release. If you can encourage a few online friends to buy it, it becomes an essential purchase. Either way, this is a great way to spend those Microsoft Points burning a hole in your avatar’s pocket.